The Birth of Monomakia
by MounkeyJames
Summary: Brigadoon is earth of the future, right? So that begs the question, who invented Monomakia...? Why, Grandpa Shuta of course! When two friends alternate chapter submissions who knows how the story will turn out...? - o
1. The Beginning

Hey James! (and everybody else!) Mounkey here! I guess I'll get the ball rolling with a Brigadoon fanfiction. :p Here you go!

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Marin was sitting on the wooden beam of the balcony outside the room that she and her grandmother had shared, just letting her legs swing back and forth as she looked up at the now Brigadoon less sky.

She was waiting for Melan to come back, because she had suddenly really wanted to go flying. Well, technically she didn't need to wait for Melan to come back to fly, since she could transform herself into something that could, but she wanted to fly with him. So she was waiting.

She had just zoned out when suddenly the tenet house underneath gave violent jerk beneath her and sent her flying off her perch.

When she got her orientation back she found herself in a familiar position on the ground. With her butt pointing straight up in the air. But this time her head had landed at such an angle that she could see inside the tenant house. Amazingly, her position didn't seem to effect her vocal cords.

"Eh-?!"

What she saw both shocked her and explained the shaking.

After Brigadoon had disappeared from the sky and the imminent danger was behind the earth, Grandpa Shuta had gone back to his normal inventing. But; as of lately he'd taken a particular interest in the monomakia, aka: living machine, technology.

And it looked like he'd just made a breakthrough...

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OK, that was short. I know q: Anyway, my friend James and I will be alternating writing this fanfiction, along with all others on this account. So keep an eye on our story ;D Neither of us know what the other will write!

P.S. James I know I said to avoid original characters and now it looks like we got one on our hands. o_O Sorry 'bout that. But you've got control now... so... uh... Good Luck! Do whatever you want!

*Mounkey throws out a thumbs up then turns and runs for the hills*


	2. What is it?

Marin picked herself up off the ground. She gulped. Either this would turn out really well or very terribly. She walked to where her Grandfather was. It was time to judge how far his work had taken him. From what she had just seen, he seemed to be doing swimmingly.

She peeked in past the door frame. Grandpa Shuta held a shimmering silver ampoule. He took noticed of Marin and waved her in. A huge grin spread on his face. He twirled the shiny ampoule around in his hand, before outstretching his arm toward Marin.

"Huh?" Marin tilted her head to the side. What was he trying to do?

"Try it out, child!" Grandpa Shuta said with a laugh, slapping his knee with his free hand. Marin hesitantly reached forward and took the ampoule from his outstretched hand. She gripped it tightly and stepped back a bit. Marin opened her hand and stared at the ampoule.

Marin closed her fist again and reared her arm back before tossing the ampoule forward. A giant burst of smoke filled the room. There was a point where Marin could no longer see among the smog, but then it began to clear. Her eyes widened as the monomakia came into focus.

"Oh my…"

…………………………………………………….

There you go Mounkey! Hope you enjoyed this very brief chapter. =D


	3. Melan, Lolo, and the New Monomakia!

Melan landed on the roof of an old abandoned lighthouse. It was dusk so the ocean and everything around it looked orange in the light. The blue monomakia didn't move, but simply stood there and started at the water. If he stared at it long enough he could almost see his old home reflected in it.

"Ro~Ro~ Melan, are you busy?~Ro?"

Melan's head snapped around and he saw a strange, green, catlike animal with big eyes and a mischievous grin, also sitting on the lighthouse.

"Ah... Chairman..." Melan readjusted himself so he was facing Lolo (AKA: The Chairman of the Life Improvement Committee) and he stared blankly at his old comrade/boss "No. I was only thinking. I am not busy."

Lolo was slightly miffed by this reaction, though he quickly pretended he hadn't been prepared to brag about how he was able to contact Earth after contact between it and Brigadoon had been supposedly cut off. He sighed to himself. Marin really did react better... and was more fun to mess with...

Melan suspected that the Chairman's thoughts had wondered, "Excuse me... chairman...?"

Oh ya.

Melan.

Right.

He had something important to tell him.

Lolo jumped up and pointed at the Gunswordsman, "Melan! There's trouble on Brigadoon!"

Still no reaction. Darn it. Melan was waiting for details. This would have been a whole lot more fun if he could have said all of this in front of Marin too, instead of waiting for Melan to be alone. Bah, anyway, where was he? Oh ya.

"Lulu stole several important documents when he jumped times! We had been so busy getting Brigadoon back to normal that no one had noticed it until several days had passed, but now the whole comities in an uproar! Ro~!"

Melan watched Lolo run around as he explained. Melan held up his... uh... paw.... thing. He uses it to pick up stuff. Anyway; Up went the paw, "Chairman, please calm down."

Lolo stopped running around and looked over his shoulder at Melan. "Marin's in danger"

"What!?" Ah, there was that reaction. Melan turned and took off flying.

Lolo called after him, "By the way, this is top secret! ~Ro!~ So don't let Marin know! ~Ro!~" Melan disappeared over the horizon. Lolo scratched his head, "Hmmm... perhaps I should have given him the particulars first after all..." He shrugged, "Oh well, Looks like my time is up ~Ro~" Lolo's image then disappeared from earth.

*MeanwhileBackAtTheTenantHouse*MeanwhileBackAtTheTenantHouse*MeanwhileBackAtTheTenantHouse*

Melan arrived in front of the tenant house and immediately could scene that something out of the ordinary had occurred. There was no one to be found in the whole structure. Feeling a scene of foreboding he called out, "Marin! Marin!"

He heard a faint response, once, then twice. It was coming from... under the floor...? Resisting the urge to just slice the floor open in danger of hitting her, Melan ran outside and bent over just in time to see Marin's smiling face poke out from the low supports holding up the house. "Welcome home Melan!"

Melan felt a pang of relief at seeing that he wasn't too late. But it was short lived, "Marin, are you alright? You're face is all scratched up..."

Marin was surprised, she touched her face to see what Melan was talking about, "Oh! Ya, I just fell off the second story that's all"

Melan was taken aback, "What-"

"Anyway, look at this!" Marin cut him off. Melan then noticed that she was holding something to her chest. She crawled out from under the house and held it out to show him.

In Marin's hands she held a silver monomakia about the size of a role of toilet paper, the likes of which Melan had never seen before, "Grandpa Shuta made it! He's still under the house though..." She looked back under and called, "Grandpa Shuta! I found him!" There was muffled noise from the depths of the underside of the house, which at the very least seemed to indicated that he was down there, though not necessarily that he had heard.

Melan was looking at the small creature in surprise, he had no doubt that this was a very early, crude, monomakia, but a monomakia none the less, "What is it...?"

Marin smiled, "His name is, Sukiyaki-Chan! The guinea pig monomakia!"

Melan felt a pair of eyes on them and, remembering the chairman's warning, immediately turned and pointed his gun at the threat, which disappeared before he had a lock on it... Darn.

"Melan...?" Marin was looking up at him, "Is something wrong Melan? You seem kind of on edge"

The words _top secrete _played through his head, he lowered his gun and looked between Marin and Sukiyaki...Chan. "No Marin. Nothing is wrong."

Marin looked at him hard as to indicate she didn't believe him. She was about the say something when Sukiyaki Chan started squeaking loudly, Marin looked panicked "Sukiyaki-?! What's wrong?!"

Shuta's head stuck out of the house, "Oh, don't worry about that, that just means he's hungry..." His confidence seemed to wane slightly, "Well, probably..."

As Marin and Shuta want back into the tenant house to see if they could find Sukiyaki something to eat, Melan looked back behind him. He felt very uneasy about the presence he had felt, and the chairman's warning didn't do much to relieve his fears...

--

Ta-DA! There, a longer chapter! Ha! Anyway, I made Momiji a larger cage this weekend so when I was trying to come up with a description Guinea pigs popped into my mind haha (I'm not going to worry about codenames so much now... so Momiji is simply Momiji)

Plus some more plot, :p Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I've written so far! Your turn James!


	4. The Big Boom

The kitchen of the tenant had turned into a war zone in the attempts of finding something that Sukiyaki-Chan would eat. A squeal of joy came from the tiny monomakia as it stumbled upon something it light. Soon enough, Sukiyaki-Chan was nibbling on a healthy green piece of lettuce. The other occupants of the room observed the mess that had been made.

"Hmmm…. What a disaster," Grandpa Shuta said scratching his head as he studied the damage. Marin picked up a fallen bowl off the floor and brought to the sink. It was a start to the cleanup they were about to get into. Malen picked up several plates with his paws and placed them in the sink.

"At least we found something Sukiyaki-Chan likes…" Marin said conversationally. She was unsure if she had actually been heard. No one appeared to be paying to attention to what she had just said. Sukiyaki-Chan was still nibbling, Grandpa Shuta was looking at a new hole in the wall, and Malen's seemed to be out of it.

Marin huffed and scurried off to the corner of the kitchen where a rather nasty looking pasta stain was located. At least she thought it was pasta sauce. She really hoped it was pasta sauce. Suddenly Malen snapped out of the daze he seemed to be in and got into battle position. Sukiyaki-Chan started to squeal hysterically.

"What on earth is going on?" cried Grandpa Shuta. A loud boom from outside was his answer.

!$!^!&*())#*&#^%%%&~*(#*&(#$&$($

I wanted to post it early, so I didn't forget. I hope you enjoyed it, Mounkey. This is James, signing off.


	5. The Enemy Arives! Finally

The explosion shock the tenant house and knocked Marin over, onto the floor. This startled Sukiyaki-Chan so much that with a squeak he turned back into his ampule form. Marin looked up at Melan in alarm, "Melan! What's going on!?"

Instinctively, Melan turned to the startled red head to his right, "Marin, Stay here." Marin was bitting her lip, but after a few seconds she nodded. She didn't know what was going on, but Melan already seemed to have decided to check it out.

Melan went outside and took to the sky. After a moments hesitation Marin took after him.

"Melan!"

Melan turned back to see Marin standing in the door frame. For a moment the two stood there starting at each other. Then Marin smiled and said, "Come back safe!" and waved up at him. Melan smiled and nodded, then turned back to the source of the sound and flew off. Once he was out of site Marin looked down at the ampule in her hands, "..." then she held it to her chest, "...Sukiyaki... I hope this all turns out O.K..."

Inside the ampule, Sukiyaki-Chan scratched his ear.

As Melan flew he saw a cloud born of loose dirt, and swooped down to investigate. People were screaming and running away, which indicated to him that he was probably going the right direction. He saw what looked like a spider leg come up from a crater which was in the middle of the dust. As the dust settled he could see that seven other legs were positioned around the hole. After a few seconds of still the creature slowly lifted itself so that it was spindly splayed above it's crevice like a demon arisen out of hell.

The bottom half did indeed resemble a spider, with eight, thick, hairy black and white striped legs, and what would have been the spider's belly was massive, hairy and reddish orange. On top of the "belly" sat what looked like the body of a very thin, beat up, undead, panda. It's arm's looked like those of a gorilla. On top of the creatures shoulders sat it's head, which was vialed but looked roughly the size of a humans...

The freakish monomakia let it's arms dangle in front of it's body. It was breathing through it's mouth... in... out... in... out... As Melan got closer he could make out what that it was saying something... "Ma... Rin... Ma... Rin..."

On the roof of a nearby bowling ally sat Aloma, eating sea-salt ice cream. "Ah... it would seem that that Yongshi, the mutant monomakia has finally arrived..." He turned and looked back towards the tenant house. He could see corporealness shadows running along the ground towards the house. "Good... good..." He looked back to where Melan was floating above the monster and casually licked his ice cream, talking to himself all the while. "Now that the whole 'Brigadoon' incident is done, I can finally considerate on getting what I really want." He scratched his head and looked up at the sky, "Marin... you are interesting..."

-

Tag, James, you're it!


	6. Something Unexpected

Melan raises the arm that secures his single-edged blade and prepares for battle. This _thing_ didn't look like an easy target, but that wasn't what bothered Melan. It was the face that this monomakia seemed a little too interested in the small red-head sitting anxiously at home. Melan's eyes narrowed and he swooped forward.

The other monomakia finally took notice of Melan and reared back on all eight legs, the veiled-head hissing threateningly. Melan swung his arm forward towards one of the spidery legs protruding from the beast. As one of the legs was severed a huge horrifying roar escaped the mutant monomakia , which shook the city.

Far off from the fight and safe at home, Marin held Sukiyaki-Chan's ampoule closer as she felt the tremor of the monomakia's cry as she heard its agonizing scream. Her eyes widened at the sound. She had never heard anything like it, and the eerie screech turned her blood cold. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed inwardly that Melan was okay.

Melan attempted to go for another leg, but was slammed back by a large gorilla arm. His back careened into a stone statue near the fight. Melan shook off the pain and pushed himself up with the help of one of his tentacles. When Melan steadied himself, he went after the monster again.

Melan avoided retaliating arms and legs as he swept past them. When he found the opportunity, Melan swung his arm again and another one of the creature's legs fell. The horrifying roar echoed throughout the city again. Melan from under the other monomakia as it began to tumble to the side.

The freak monomakia tried to balance itself as it wobbled unevenly on only six legs now. Melan shot at the monomakia with a laser, but managed to miss by a foot. Melan readied his laser canon again only to come to the realization that the monomakia was back on its feet. Melan cursed inwardly and avoided being pummeled by two gorilla arms.

Melan few high above the creature and prepared his cannon again. The monomakia below swiveled its veiled-head to eye Melan in the sky. When it noticed what Melan was trying to do, its remaining six legs bent and it leaped into the air with a spiral spin.

Melan was thrown back by several kicks from the creatures legs. The other monomakia continued to spin in the air for a minute before landing rather ungracefully next to the hole from which it had emerged. Melan, surprised by the attack, shot his cannon into a random direction. The lethal beam careened into an office building.

Melan managed to gain control again and went towards the unsteady beast furiously. With a swipe of his edged-sword, another leg crashed to the ground. The creature was unable to even able to utter its terrifying cry as its remaining legs gave out. Melan watched as the other monomakia fell. He charged his laser cannon. This would all end soon.

"You…fo…fo..fool…" it uttered shakily from the confines of the veiled-head. Melan fired directly at the veiled-head to silence it forever. What happened next, Melan was completely unready for. The veil had merely been a primitive shield, A small force-field or armor to hide the creature's true nature. Yet, it didn't make sense. Melan knew the face on the beast well, but it didn't make sense in his head. How could that creature share such a resemblance to someone to whom he knew so well.

"It can't be…"

ENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTERENDCHAPTER

Sorry for my lateness. The excitement of Halloween kind of clouded my mind and memory. Homework, what's that? Yeah… All I had was candy on the brain. Anyway, I tried to make up for it by putting a lot of effort into this chapter. I am unsure if I'm any good at fight scenes, but I tried. Till next chapter, Mounkey.


	7. June! What's up at the tenant house?

June had been shopping for groceries when the battle started.

It had started as such a good day too. For the first time in June's life, everything seemed to finally be working out for her. So much so she had found herself smiling up into the sun in supreme happiness. Her mother was back, she was engaged to a great guy, she was doing well at work, and Marin, who had always been like a little sister to her, was back in good spites again. As bad as June knew she had had it, after watching Marin struggle through so much else it was a relief to know that the younger girl was safe and happy again.

Well, her father was still a drunk, but you can't expect life to be perfect, can you?

She had specifically been inside bakery. Suddenly she heard an explosion from outside and the building shook, no so much as to cause anything to fall off the shelves, but deficiently noticeable.

"Oh no..." June felt her stomic drop and she found herself turning to the window to see the source. All she saw was a dust cloud a few miles away, but she knew something was wrong.

June started to run out of the store, but the baker grabbed her hand and she turned back in surprise to look at the short, gray-haired, mustached man. He was very serious, "Ma'am, I sure don't think you should be goin' out at a time like this. Last time he had a quake like this it were one of them there, Monomakias..." He was looking her in the eye as he spoke trying to make it absolutely clear he was not joking.

June was stunned. Monomakia...? Again...? No... it couldn't be...

The baker looked at her with concern for a moment, but having said his bit he let go of her arm. He turned his eyes back to his counter, and seemed to be speaking to himself now as much as June, "Much as I hate to think it could happen again, we should be careful... world now's not the same as the one it was before-"

The tinkle of the shop bell pulled his eyes up and saw with a jolt the young woman running past his store fount window.

He tried to chase after her, but once he got around his counter and out into the street she was out of site. And being a rather chubby man, that much exercise was enough to render him breathless. He stopped halfway up the street to pant for breath. He gave one more hopeful scan to see if he could see the young woman, but it was in vain. He turned back as and headed back to his shop as quickly as he could manage, glancing back over his shoulder occasionally to see if he could catch a gimps of her, but June was one who could make excellent time when necessary.

June herself was almost out of breath when she reached the tenant house. She wanted to stop and breath so badly...

She turned the corner and was horrified by what she saw. Marin was being held above the ground, arms pressed tightly to her sides, by what looked like some big black shadow. Marin couldn't breath, but after a few seconds she saw June and tried to gasp a warning at her, "June...! Ru...run!"

June stumbled back automatically as the shadow lifted the struggling little red head high above the ground, a sliver bottle held firmly in her hand.

Inside the tenant house she heard the yelling of grandpa Shuta, "Unhand me right now you, you-! Translucent- dark- vague- villains! Mumff-!" There was a moment where June caught sight of Shuta struggling against another shadow before it pulled him back out of site.

June looked around franticly (but femininely) for anything that could help.

Or Melan.

Needless to say, she didn't see Melan.

What she did see, however; was a broom that someone had neglected to put away.

Well, she didn't have a lot of options, did she?

June grabbed the broom with both hands and pointed it in what she hoped was a threatening manner at the dark mass, "Le-Let Marin go!"

The dark mass stopped for a moment but then went back to it's business suffocating the little girl.

June screwed up her courage and took a swing at the shadow.

It was like trying to knock over the vary air.

Just as June dishearteningly concluded that she hadn't made contact. Marin fell to the ground. While June hadn't quite managed to inflict damage on the monster she had effectively separated the shadow's two parts. With the top left floating above the ground with all the weight of a human girl to support; gravity had quickly taken effect. In fact, the shadow had managed to break Marin's fall, which then dispersed it even further, freeing Marin from it's grip. As the grip on her released her lungs sucked in the cold dusk air and Marin breathed again.

June, however wasn't in such a good situation now. The shadows turned their attention to her and had formed a circle around her. June swung at them with her broom, but it didn't seem to do her much good. Being corporealness they simply reformed as soon as she dispersed them. They gabbed her broom and when she tried to pull it away it was like trying to pull the sword from the sword in the stone.

Then June tried to let go, but she could no longer even do that. The shadows were using the broom as a bridge, and June's arms all the way up to her shoulders where now covered by painful inky darkness. She tried to pull away but it was about as effective as a fly struggling to get free of a spider's web as it closed in on it's the helpless pry.

It's not that Marin was standing there simply watching all of this. It just took her a few moments to really understand the situation. Actually, perhaps she should have taken a few more moments to think before she acted.

She threw the ampule in her hand at the darkness threatening to consume her surrogate older sister.

Sukiyaki-Chan's ampule.

The ampule of the monomakia guinea pig.

Needless to say, there was not a very long laps between the time it took for the ampule to leave Marin's fingertips and the time it took for Marin to regret it.

In the explosion that coincided with the opening of a monomakia ampule the shadows did break apart.

June was sitting in surprise on the ground.

Wrapped around her torso was what looked like a silver sheet of armor, but only connecting on her right shoulder.

It purred and snuggled against her body.

Marin and June were both in shock.

It took a moment for the shadows to get back too. But then it reared up all around her and it looked like a huge title wave was about to crush her. June threw up her arms desperately to block it. When the shadows were about to hit her however; it was like they hit an invisible barrier about a foot around her and bounced off.

In the background they could her grandpa Shuta yelling, "Ah fascinating!"

Marin and June both turned in that direction.

Grandpa Shuta was also in the grips of a shadow, but he seemed to be holding his own. Kinda.

Somehow he had gotten his hands on what looked like an extendable boxing glove and was bursting through the shadows with it. They still managed to have a grip on the lower part of his body, but he could breath no problem and his arms were free. Or, he could operate his contraction freely, which is pretty close to the same thing.

Marin yelled up to him, "Grandpa Shuta! Are you alright!?"

Shuta took a sporting extendable punch at his captor, which didn't do much to free him but still seemed to be keeping to shadows away from overwhelming him, "Oh yes, yes! Nothing I can't handle!" He was lying, but that was just because he was excited about something else, "It looks like Monomakia attempt 0239's evolution mechanism was activated! And he seems to be going along a defense rout! This is excellent!" He took a punch at a wave of darkness attempting to crush down on his head and turned back excitedly to the girls, "Once this ordeal is over with I will absolutely have to put this down in my experimentation logs!"

Marin and June were at a complete loss for words.

Sukiyaki-Chan(armor mode) started squeaking out of control, followed very quickly by a "Marin!" from June.

Marin turned in time to see the darkness that had tried to crush June had turned it's attention back to her and looked like it was about to crush her flat.

This time, with absolutely nothing to throw, Marin covered her face with her hands, hitting her necklace as she did, the one that let her transform. With a jolt she remembered that she wasn't completely helpless, but what could she transform into to stop this!? She looked around franticly-

Suddenly a quick succession of scatter shots hit the shadows so quickly they didn't all have time to move and purple blood gushed up from the ground. Marin was taken aback, those things were monomakia!? Wait- more importantly, Marin looked up for the source of the shooting just in time to see a silver gun swordsman land in front of her, "Hello ancestor of Cries Marin. We meet again"

Pyon Silver, one of the three Gun swordsmen of Brigadoon stood in front of her now. The shadows pulled back a bit and made a strange aggressive noise, much like the sound the ocean makes. And encircled the group cautiously but still determinedly. Pyon pointed his gun at the shadows again, "Ancestor of Cries Marin, do not move. I will deal with this"

* * *

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--

* * *

Hello, Mounkey here again! James, good job on the battle chapter and I'm glad to see you posted on the Brigadoon story again. Also, I'm not sure I used the word surrogate correctly...

* * *

So ya, I wanted to introduce another member of the tenant house, and June was the easiest to write about for some reason O_o

* * *

OK, your turn! 


	8. An Old Comrade

Pyon Silver raised Excalibur and prepared to fight the shadow monomakia. Marin stood there in shock just watching at the events took place. June in her Sukiyaki-Chan armor grabbed Marin's arm and took them to the door frame. It seemed like a safe place to be. Grandpa Shuta continued to punch his way through the shadow monomakia with his boxing-glove invention.

Pyon Silver swiped away at the shadows. He'd shoot at them every once and a while. Suddenly each of the creatures shuddered before disappearing. Grandpa Shuta's legs were released by the shadows as they faded away. There was a moment of quiet.

"Are they gone?" June asked from her hiding spot. Pyon Silver eyed the area suspiciously. When June and Marin attempted to move, he pointed Excalibur at them. Pyon Silver's head shifted left to right as he continued to survey the area.

"Do not move. These are not normal monomakia. They are not so easily defeated…" Pyon Silver commented as he moved closer to Marin and June. Grandpa Shuta also moved closer to the forming group. Sukiyaki-Chan squeaked, causing a strange rumble to run up June's body. She giggled involuntarily.

"What kind of monomakia are they exactly?" Marin questioned from behind Pyon Silver.

"They are called Vashta Nerada. They're a devilish kind of creatures. Originally they come from the forests of Brigadoon. They appear as shadows, because it is easier to stalk their prey that way. What they are doing is somewhat puzzling to me. However, whatever you do, you must count the shadows," Pyon Silver explained.

"Why must we count the shadows?" Marin questioned.

"That is where they hide and wait to attack. If you have one too many of your own shadow, than you know that soon you shall be claimed as there next victim…" Pyon Silver replied, his gaze falling to the shadows of the humans.

"What happens if you fall victim to them?" June asked worriedly.

"You human, most likely to not wish to know…"

/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\Meanwhile/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\

Melan continued to stare at the mutant monomakia in disbelief. The creature struggled to get on its uneven legs once more. Melan was unsure if he could attempt to attack it again. Something was wrong, terribly terribly wrong. The head once hidden behind the black veil belonged to non-other than the female gun-swordsman Erin Garnet.

"Me…Melan...he...help me," Erin's head said pitifully. Melan hovered closer to the other monomakia, the others gorilla arms weakly attempting to capture the gun-swordsman in its grasp. Melan hovered over the mutant.

"Erin?" Melan asked unsurely. The head of his past comrade looked at him with a bit of struggled, the neck connecting it to the ungodly body barely balancing the head. Suddenly Erin's face contorted into one of anger and hate.

"_There…is no…hope in he…helping her now fool," _an unfamiliar voice floated from Erin's mouth.

/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\End Chapter/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\

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There you go Mounkey! Have fun. And for anyone that knows, I totally stole the Vashta Nerada from Dr. Who. So yeah, I don't own the Vashta Nerada. This is James signing off. =D


	9. Poor Melan

Melan felt his stomic drop. Unfortunately, seeing Erin distracted him just long enough. The mutant monomakia got a good kick to Melan's stomic and sent him flying backwards towards a building wall. He missed it, and instead hit a trident held by a marble statue. His gasped and coughed up purple blood .

Meanwhile, the mutant monomania's face lost all scene of location and Erin's eyes glazed over. The gorilla arms started swinging back and forth. The vial then slowly resembled itself back over her face, hiding her from view once again.

Having gotten over the initial shock of being impaled Melan's mind came back to the battle. He pointed his gun behind his back and shoot the statue's lance, breaking it and dropping down to the ground on his knees. When he hit the earth he felt intense pain where the marble weapon was still sticking through him. Luckily, it had missed his spinal cord but-

The spider crouched down and sprung at Melan springing like a cork. Melan managed to dodge it, but just barely. Not having thumbs, and dodging an attacker, it was tricky, but he did manage to pull out the trident.

Much purple blood burst out and flowed to the ground.

--

Mounkey here

Short chapter :p

I hoped that helped move the story along, I was having trouble thinking of anything _o

Anyway; your turn James!


	10. Enemies

Melan fell to the ground hard. Purple blood splattered everywhere on the scene. Melan lay in a crumpled heap. The mutant monomakia hovered over the fallen guns-swordsmen and decided this was a perfect time to continue with its original objective. It pushed itself up higher onto its remaining legs and made its way to the tenant house.

"Marin…" the creature hissed as it continued on its way.

"No…" Melan said breathlessly before his voice faded out.

The ground rumbled more and more. The members of the tenant house were still huddled in the semi-safety of the doorway. Each had been checking for any extra shadows, but the sounds created by the shaking of the city were more unnerving.

"Something approaches," Pyon Silver said in a stiff voice. June clutched onto her Sukiyaki-Chan armor tightly. Grandpa Shuta put protective arms around Marin as Pyon Silver got in battle ready position. Then it came into sight…

June screamed as the mutant monomakia came into view. It was terrifying. The creature shakily crawled forward on its five remaining legs. Where the creatures other legs had once been, now left three purple oozing stubs. One of its gorilla arms helped balance out the weight of it. Pyon Silver glared menacingly at the beast.

The other gun-swordsmen shot forward and prepared to attack the mutant monomakia. The creature roared and immediately swirled in the air in retaliation. Pyon Silver barely missed a flying leg and swooped directly underneath the monomakia. With a few quick swipes, another leg was lost to the mutant. The cry of pain that shot from the creature made the onlookers from the tenant house shudder.

The mutant monomakia seemed defeated. Pyon Silver flew above to observe the pitiful creature. However in a change of plans, the beast sprung up on its last four legs and scampered away from the tenant house in retreat. Pyon Silver followed quickly after it.

The others still huddled in the doorframe watched the battle leave them. Relief did not come with the absence of the beast, however. With a monomakia about, there were still many things to worry about. Marin worried deeply about what on earth could have happened to Melan. Marin's eyes feel to the ground sadly. That is when she finally took notice of something.

"GRANDPA SHUTA!" Marin cried. The old man looked up startled and turned his attention to Mari, whom was still tucked away safely in her arms. Or so he thought.

"What is it?" he replied wearily.

"You have two shadows!" Marin shouted back. Grandpa Shuta stiffened and turned his attention below him. It was true. Two silhouettes lay behind the old man. One was his real shadow and the other could only be…

"Vashta Nerada," said June weakly.

"Pyon is gone! What are we going to do?" Marin asked. This was too much all at once. It was a lot for one small girl to take. She had her glasses, but what could she possibly turn into to stop this situation. Pyon Silver hadn't even bothered to explain what happens to the victims when they were caught in the clutches of the Vashta Nerada.

Suddenly pops and clicks were heard. Everyone's attention turned to June, or more specifically her armor. Sukiyaki-Chan was glowing a bright green. He was transforming! But into what? The armor detached from June and fell gracefully to the ground. Sukiyaki-Chan had returned to his original form but he still glowed.

A globe of green surrounded Sukiyaki-Chan. It was…a giant hamster ball? Sukiyaki-Chan clicked and squeaked loudly as his ball began to spin as he pushed it forward with his feet. The green globe shot forward and bounced against the wall. Soon enough it looked like a game of pin-ball as Sukiyaki-Chan bounced back and forth along the walls gaining momentum. At last, the green ball collided with the shadows, ripping a huge hole in its middle.

Sukiyaki-Chan continued this action. He ripped more and more holes into the Vashta Nerada. This other monomakia did not have a horrifying cry like the other. Its hurt was silent. The extra shadow shivered and then began to slither away. They watched as the shadow crept slowly into the same direction the other great beast had gone.

Sukiyaki-Chan rolled against the ground until the green globe came to a stop. The ball of light that surrounded the tiny monomakia slowly faded away. Grandpa Shuta released his hold on Marin in relief. June fell to her knees and started to breathe again. She wasn't even aware she had stopped breathing.

"THAT WAS BRILLIANT!!!!!!!" Grandpa Shuta cheered as he picked up Sukiyaki-Chan happily. The tiny monomakia seemingly purred and clicked. Grandpa Shuta began to observe the small monomakia closely. He flipped Sukiyaki-Chan this way and that as he studied him. The guinea pig monomakia didn't seem too pleased about this and squealed in protest.

Marin laughed lightly at the scene, but the laughter was short lived as June gasped loudly. The young woman's eyes were wide and a hand covered her mouth. Marin turned to gaze in the same direction that June was looking. Her blood ran cold and her heart dropped.

Pyon Silver approached them with a stone-set face. In his arms, lay his fallen comrade. Melan hung limply in Pyon's grasp. Tears pricked at Marin's eyes as she rushed forward to meet Pyon halfway. It only took moments for the tears to come full forced.

"Melan!" the young girl cried as she took the gun-swordsmen's face in her hands. Melan didn't respond. His eyes remained close. Marin sobbed and buried her head by Melan's neck. Pyon Silver cleared his throat loudly. Marin sniffed and looked up at him.

"He is not dead, but he does need to rest to recover," Pyon Silver reassured the young girl. Marin looked down at Melan again. While the news slightly alleviated her fears, she was still anxious. This new enemy seemed a lot stronger than the one's she faced before.

* * *

Was Jetzt? =D I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I originally was going to end it where they see the shadow, but I just gave in and finished it. Your turn now sucker! =3


	11. After the Storm

When Melan woke up he was Marin crying on him. Automaticly he reached a paw out and put it on her head. Immediately she looked up and releif and joy spread across her face. Melan felt a bit numb but still managed a smile, "Marin, Are you OK?"

Tears flowed down Marin's face as she nodded, she took Melan's paw and held it against her cheek, "Ya... I'm fine..."

After that they sat quietly like that and June, who had been standing in the door frame, returned to the room where Shuta and Pyon were sitting.

Sukiyaki-chan seemed to have taken quite a liking to Pyon and was happily pearched on his shoulder. Pyon was a bit unsure what to do in this situation, so he appeared to think sitting very stiffly was the safest option.

As June entered the room Shuta held up a hand to stop her, "Wait June! Move aproximently 1.233423 meters to your left before continuing!" June looked at the ground to see why, which immediately caused her to look up at the ceiling. A piece of it was on the floor.

June started with the question, "What-!?"

But she was cut off by Pyon, "I was the cause of that"

June looked confused and supriced at the Gunswordsman. Shuta clarified, "When Pyon Silver here saw Sukiyaki-chan running around he thought he was an enemy monomakia... so he tried to shoot him..."

Pyon continued to sit looking forward stiffly while Sukiyaki-chan purred and snuggled against him.

--

Lalalalala~ Mounkey here posting the new chapter~

OnceAgainByTheWay!- Did you see how many hits we got the other day O_O 157! That's more then twice our previous record!


	12. Clean Up

Now that the attack was over with, it was time for clean up. June dumped another scoopful of dry-wall into the trash can. A sigh escapes her lips. She thought with Brigadoon seemingly out of the picture all this would stop. She supposed they could never be _that_ lucky.

Marin was still snuggled against Melan's chest. The gun-swordsman had his wounds patched up with some bandages that had scrounged up. Melan held Marin close to him with his tentacle arms. Pyon had yet to escape Sukiyaki-Chan. This new form of monomakia was apparently very loving.

Grandpa Shuta tried prying off Sukiyaki-Chan, but to no avail. The guinea pig monomakia refused to budge an inch much to Pyon's dismay. Grandpa Shuta wished to perform more tests on his creation. He found its performance today to be quite spectacular indeed.

"That's about everything…." June said as she swept the last of the mess off the side of the house. With a sharp tug, Grandpa Shuta went flying back with Sukiyaki-Chan in his arms. A loud squeal emitted from the tiny monomakia. Pyon was relieved. Melan looked up to see what the commotion was about. Once he realized nothing was wrong he looked back down at Marin.

"You must release me now," Melan said softly. Marin looked up at him as if to challenge what he said. Melan let go of Marin. The younger girl dropped her hold of Melan reluctantly and stood up. Melan attempted to stand. He succeeded with a slight wobble in his step.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Marin asked concernedly. Melan nodded in reassurance.

"Pyon I must speak with you…" Melan said seriously. The other gun-swordsman turned to face Melan. Marin watched the exchange curiously. Melan made a move to head outside. Pyon started to follow after him.

"What do you wish to discuss?" Pyon questioned.

"Something that must be discussed only between us…" Melan said with a pointed look towards Marin. The young girl pouted and crossed her arms. Melan continued to stare at her until he was sure she would not follow. Melan continued his journey outside with Pyon trailing after him.

"I wonder what that's about…" June said curiously.

* * *

MOUNKEY!!!!!!! It's Thanksgiving break, so this shall be my one and only post of this week. I might write another chapter tomorrow, but since I'll be spending most of my time traveling I am unable to write anything on Wednesday. Plus, Friday is my break. I am taking all advantage of my break from school. =3


	13. Rooftop

Melan and Pyon flew to the top of the tenant house. They had to speak privately, but at the same time it was important to keep an eye on the inhabitants of the house below them.

Melan turned a serious eye to his fellow gun-swordsman, "I want you to tell me what is going on in Brigadoon, why that monomakia had Erin's face, and what Marin has to do with all of this."

Pyon was silent for a few moments, stareing off into the distance. Then suddenly he turned his eyes to meet Melan's, "I have not been told all the details myself"

The two continued to stare at each other like that for a while, Melan's voice became a little more serious, "You are not telling me something"

Pyon's eyes narrowed responded in the same way, "You did not tell me everything last time either"

Melan processed the statement and was quite for a bit, "... So... you are fufilling an order then?"

--

It's been over a month, but I've finally updated :p

Sorry about the long wait (and short chapter) but I was having a difficult time desideing where to progress from the last chapter...

Anywho, if any readers have anything they'd like to see happen, please feel free to post it in the comments. I'm sure it'll help the next time James or I get writers block ;p

-Mounkey


	14. Lolo Returns

"I am unsure if I should tell you of what I know," Pyon replied.

"So you are following an order," Melan said. Pyon showed no response and merely continued to wander atop the rooftop. Melan made a move to get more information out of Pyon, but stopped as he took notice of something. A little green light flickered on the roof for a moment.

"Chairman," Pyon and Melan said at the same time. Lolo finally came into full focus. He purred happily at yet another successful contact. Lolo inched forward towards the Gun-swordsmen. The two watched the chairman slowly approach them.

"Excellent ~Ro~ I'm glad to see you both here ~Ro~ Saves me the effort …" Lolo started.

/////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\In the House\\\\\\\\\\///////////////

"What do you suppose they're doing up there?" June questioned as she started to make dinner for the members of the tenant house. A lot of rice had to be made to feed Melan and everyone else. Marin shuffled around her as she helped.

"I don't know…" Marin said sadly. June glanced at the tiny red-head. Marin seemed downhearted for some reason. June took another batch of rice out of the rice cooker as it beeped. She brought it over to a big bowl and dumped it in. She went back to start cooking more rice. Her attention went back to Marin.

"What's eatin' at you kiddo?" she asked softly.

"I'm just worried about Melan. He has to talk to Pyon about something, but he refuses to tell me what. I don't really like all this secrecy," Marin answered truthfully. June dumped more rice into the cooker and filled it a bit with water.

"I'm sure everything will be just fine," June said as she attempted to comfort Marin.

* * *

This was a rather short chapter, but I hoped you enjoyed it anyway. I love ya Mounkey!!!!!!!! =D


	15. The Assistant

Mike, grandpa Shuta's faithful assistant and June's recently appointed fiancé, happily stepped off the train. As he stood on the platform he took a huge intake of air. It was a beautiful day to be alive!

Mike walked out of the train station staring up at the sky. It was quite late at night now but the moon was beautiful and the stars were twinkling joyously. Yes, Mike nodded to himself, life was going good for him!

The assistant had spent the whole day two towns over bartering with an obscure electronics shop over the price of several hard to find pieces of equipment that Shuta absolutely had to have.

The poor unknowing fellow was so elated at his excellent follow through (despite his imperfection in the Japanese language) that he actually managed to walk several blocks on the way back to the tenant house lost in his own little happy world. This lasted until he felt himself slipping downwards sharply. The blond American looked down in time to see that he hadn't exactly stepped into a pothole.

Mike let out a yelp of terror as he slipped down into the inky darkness,"Je~SUS!", of the giant crater in the middle of the town, desperately clutching his purchases for that day.

--

Ta-DA! Mike!

I thought about introducing him earlier, but his intro just kept being pushed back (Haha...)

Thursday is my birthday :) Yay~

-Mounkey


	16. The Crater

Mike lay dazed and confused at the bottom of the crater in the middle of town. His groceries were still clutched in his hand by some unknown miracle. Mike took a moment to recollect himself. He then slowly worked his way into a standing position. The man looked up. He could see the outline of the crater which was highlighted by the sky. He was pretty far done and lucky to still be alive.

"Where am I?" Mike wondered as he eyed the dirt walls around him. Taking a deep breath, Mike decided it was probably better to trudge onward. He knew that there was absolutely no way he was going to be able to climb out of this whole, especially not when he had all these groceries.

Mike dug around in one of the bags till he found a small battery powered flashlight. Grandpa Shuta had only needed to use some of the parts of the flashlight for his experiment, but it was a great commodity to have at this moment. Mike clicked the flashlight on and shined it into the darkness. There looked to be a tunnel that started on the side of the crater.

Mike adjusted the groceries in his arm and began to trudge forward into the unknown in the hopes that he would find another exit.

* * *

_**Sorry for the incredible shortness of this chapter. It's about two o'clock in the morning here and… I didn't want to lose my point. I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway regardless of the length. Till Monday my dearest Mounkey, Adieu. **_


	17. Mike's Hike

After Mike walked on for quite a while the cave, which was now the only possible way to describe this place, began to get damper and darker. Mike was quite impressed, despite being lost, "Wow~ I had no idea Japanese towns had underground caves..." He pointed the light all around him, happily exploring and elated with his new discovery, much like a kid in a haunted house.

As he continued on, Mike's foot landed in something fairly thick and he found himself stuck, "Oops" He pointed the flashlight down and realized that it was white and well, was rising up and down slightly. It was kind of like something breathing.

"Je-SUS!" His face lit up, "JAPAN REALLY IS MYSTERIOUS!" The young man threw his head back and laughed, his hands on his hips, "Hahaha! This must be Japanese bat guano! Well-" He grinned eagerly (and foolishly) at the challenge and brought his other foot forwards into the mystery goo, "-I'm not a man who can say no to science!" he then sunk waist deep in the stuff and screamed like a little girl. Once he realized he wasn't going down any further though he calmed down and let out another manly laugh and pushed forewords into the cave. ((What, you may ask, dose this have to do with science? Who knows. Mike knew exactly what he meant, and that's what matters))

The young explorer squished heroically onwards and noticed that as he progressed the cave walls also became substantially whiter...

*BackOnTopOfTheTenantHouse*BackOnTopOfTheTenantHouse*

Lolo had appeared before the two gunswordsmen now positioned on top of the Tenant house.

Naturally, Melan and Pyon both stopped talking when they saw him.

Lolo grinned.

Knowing something other's didn't rocked.

In the tenant house Sukiyaki-chan suddenly ran into the main sitting room where the two girls were situated. Marin remembered sharply how had it was to catch him before and dove for him before he could get to far. June watched with some alarm The monomakia jumped at first but then scampered up Marin's shoulder into her hair and purred.

Grandpa Shuta came running in shortly after and, seeing the guinea pig's rear sticking out of Marin's hair dived on top of her.

*InTheCave*InTheCave*InTheCave*

Mike finally reached a ledge after walking through "The Sea of Japanese Bat Guano". By this point the whole cave was not only white, but the walls where now covered in this silky spindly stuff. It felt funny. Mike tried to lean on it at one point and his arm fell though all the way up to his elbow, which kind of freaked him out, "!$&^!!$u&^#*&(!?!?!?!", causing him to yell incoherently in some kind of English-Japanese hybrid and pull his arm (now gooey) out.

Mike let loose a sigh and started talking to himself again, "That was close. These Japanese caves sure are different..."

"...ver ...er"

Mike looked up, that kind of sounded like someone's voice...

He turned 180 degrees around and shown the flashlight in that direction. A pink gunswordsman was stuck to the wall in some sort of cocoon breathing heavily.

In fount of it was sleeping something really big and really hairy...

--

I feel kind of bad because I think I made Mike a little out of character... but oh well....

Good-night James....


	18. Seeing Red

Marin sqauwked in surprise as Grandpa Shuta tackled her into the ground. Sukiyaki-chan also squeaked in alarm as it simply dug deeper into Marin's hair. Grandpa Shuta dove his hand into Marin's hair in search of his creation. Marin let out a muffled scream of protest as Grandpa tugged rather hard onto a certain strand of hair.

"Aha!" Grandpa Shuta said excitedly as he managed to finally tug the small monomakia out of Marin's hair. Suddenly the old man felt him being lifted high into the hair. He blinked in confusion and then turned his head to look behind him. Melan gave Grandpa Shuta a hard look as Marin sniffled slightly clutching her head in her hands.

"That really hurt…" she whined. June crouched down beside Marin and cooed in compassion. The whole ordeal looked really uncomfortable from her position. Melan slowly lowered Grandpa Shuta down, but didn't lose his hard look.

////////////

Lolo sighed and crossed his arms. His rather important conversation between Pyon, Melan, and himself was cut short after they heard the large thud beneath them. Melan had flown out f there like a bat of hell, when Marin's squawk was hurt.

"Is what you say really true?" Pyon asked, breaking the silence.

"Hmmm? Well…it's mostly true," Lolo replied.

"Mostly?" Pyon said. Lolo let loose a large grin that stretched across his whole face. Other people were such fun toys to play with.

//////////////

The large hairy beast was possibly the most terrifying thing Mike had ever encountered. What exactly was it? He wasn't entirely sure. Luckily for him though, the hairy monstrosity appeared to be asleep. Mike shifted away from the monster and closer to pink gun-swordsmen.

She was still mumbling something incoherent. Her eyes were closed shut. Was she awake? Was she mumbling in her sleep? Mike reached out and poked the cocoon that she appeared to be encased in. The foreign touched seemed to have a violent reaction.

The cocoon began to glow a deep menacing red. The pink gun-swordsmen's eyes snapped open. She looked to be disturbed. Mike was horrified to find that the hairy creature next to him had begun to also awaken. It started to shakily stand hissing at the intruder.

"No! Run, run, run!" the pink gun-swordsmen shouted. Mike was frozen in place. He watched as she struggled against the bindings of the cocoon. Her movements frantic as the beast let out a roar of displeasure. Erin used all her strength and was able to make a break in the gooey cocoon. In her struggle to try to help Mike and herself, she miscalculated the path of power. Her sword was now free of the cocoon, but wedged into Mike's shoulder.

"Argh…" Mike let out a pained moaned.

The white goo that lined the walls turned a chilling shade of crimson, before everything went black…

* * *

Sadly another relatively short chapter. On a side note…My internet works again! !!!!!!!!!! I am so happy about that. Plus, yesterday was possibly the best day ever. I got free pancakes in English class. =D I hope school is going for you as well Mounkey. This is James, signing off.


	19. Yongshi's lair

Mike came to rather slowly. His head was pounding and his whole body felt tingly. As his senses came to him more sharply he realized with a jolt in the pit of his stomic that he was now hanging on the wall in a cocoon exactly like the one that Erin was in. She hung on the wall to the right of him, once again asleep. The part of the cocoon that she had ripped through was patched up in such a way as that it resembled a scar.

Mike remembered being stabbed but felt not pain, rather numbness. He tried to feel his side with his arm, but found that to be an impossible task. Though the cocoon material had the texture of cotton candy, it was as firm as concrete.

Mike straightened his neck to the right to somehow motion to the pink monomakia, with his only quasi-movable body part, in an attempt to get her attention.

It didn't work very well, but instead left him with a kink in his neck. Not really thinking about it, he opened his mouth to call out to her, "He-!"  
His attempt at a "Hey! You!" was interrupted by a sudden but serious coughing fit. His mouth was filled with the taste of iron and the next thing he knew he was trying desperately to hold the building thing back.

The blood didn't have anywhere to go but down and, through Mike's sudden uncontrollable hacking and coughing, all came out. It rushed down the cocoon in three quick bursts before Mike managed a sharp intake of air once again.

The sound brought Erin back to consciousness. She blearily looked around trying to regain her bearings. Whenever the spider monomakia made, repaired, or somehow else modified one of these cocoons, it included some sort of tranquilizer which made it hard to Erin to have a clear sense of time. The first thing she did was look for it, which was nowhere to be seen. It had probably moved a little deeper into the cave. This, however, failed to put Erin at ease. Instead a feeling of urgency and dread overtook her, mingled with feelings of annoyance at her own incapability to do anything about it. This did not bode well.

She then allowed her attention to turn to the human who was now hanging on the wall next to her. His cocoon now had a crimson red stain running down it. That was right, "humans" bleed red. Erin watched with mild interest as Mike leaded his head back and slowly returned his breathing to normal.

After a moment she felt herself talk, "That is..." and saw him look up at her in response, "Because I punctured your lung..."

It wasn't an apology, simply an explanation. Mike's breathing was a bit shallow, but after a few breaths he managed a cheesy grim, a little bit of blood still on his lower lip, "Well, that which doesn't kill me... only make me stronger...!"

Erin examined him (and his uneven breathing) blandly before turning to look to her left instead. In this being's case, perhaps it was better that Yongshi caught it... at least for a little while. Once again, she found herself giving a half interested comment, "Yongshi's cocoon has stopped the outer bleeding, but you did experience some internal damage..."

Mike stared at the back of Erin's head, "Oh..." He then pivoted his head to get a good look around him, "So... where are we anyway...?"

Erin felt a pang of annoyance and her head snapped back to look ferociously at the clueless human.

Her retort was cut short however when the whole cave suddenly began to shake. She looked up in horror just in time to see Yongshi come gallomping at top speed around the corner at them. Mike screamed like a little girl and (judging from the foul oder, which caused Erin to wrinkle her nose) probably also wet his pants.

The mutant monomakia then reared up in front of Erin so that it's underbelly was pointed directly at her. The center opened like a black, hairy, empty, eyelid and for a split second Mike thought that maybe it was some kind of empty threat. Erin's face however, turned to one of pure revolution moments before the real event started.

The mutant monomakia released a wave of white string which completely coved Erin's face first. Erin, being far stronger then Mike, then was suddenly, visibly struggling beneath the cocoon as the spider leaned in on top of her as his "belly eye" expanded and "ate" her with it.

Had Mike actually been outside of the cocoon and able to run, at this point perhaps his legs would have failed him anyway, but that was not to be the end of it. The spider panda gorilla monster then turned it's vialed head to Mike himself, and the young apprentice knew exactly what was going to happen.

That made it ten times worse as it occurred.

*AboveGround*AboveGround*AboveGround*

Back above the ground Marin sat tentatively playing with Sukiyaki-Chan in the side yard... as grandpa Shuta took notes on the little monomakia's activity. Melan sat next to the old man on high alert for shadows and keeping an eye on Marin as Pyon patrolled the skies above.

Inside the tenant house June tried once more to call the next town over, but all she got, once again, was a busy signal. Reluctantly she put the phone back down and, after a moments hesitation, decided not to try again. She swallowed deeply and walked outside to sit with the others.

Marin looked up at June and saw that the older girl still looked preoccupied with worry. The younger one caught her eye and put up a brave, comforting face, "June, I know that the others will be OK..."

Grandpa Shuta looked up and around and realized June was there for the first time. With one look at the young lady however, he was able to tell what Marin must have been reassuring her about.

Shuta smiled gently and put his hand on hers, "Don't worry so much my dear... The triplets and your father are way far out of town to prepare for your wedding... and that assistant of mine..." June couldn't meet his eyes even though Shuta was trying to look into hers, "He's no fool..."

Whatever Grandpa Shuta was going to follow that up with never made it out because, once again, the earth began to shake violently. Out of it's hole once again was crawling the mutant monomakia.

From his perch far away on top of the bowling ally Aloma spoke softly to himself, having finished his ice cream but still sucking thoughtfully on the stick "The true power of Yongshi... is his ability to absorb skills and knowledge..." He looked over at the tenant house and noticed a green "catling" sitting on the roof and smiled. The catling seemed to sense is eyes and looked up sharply to where Aloma was sitting.

The green haired boy smiled and flipped open his time traveling watch and pushed a couple of buttons, "The ancestor of Cries Marin... what a fine catch that will be..." Aloma smiled serenely at Lolo as he hit the enter key. Dispersing out of the Chairman of the Life Improvement Committee's cross hairs.

--

Sorry about the lateness _

I wrote a longer chaper in hopes that I could make up for that!  
BTW: James, check out a manga called, "Beast Master"! There's a character in there that looks just like L! O_O


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